Netaji Bose: Attempted Appropriation by Hindu Nationalism
Netaji Sbhashchandra Bose’s birth anniversary was marked by various events this year (January 23). His portrait was unveiled by the President in Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was declared that his…
Dr Ram Puniyani
Promoting Amity in the Times of Hate
Last month has seen a series of incidents which are very disturbing, to say the least. They have been promoting hatred, promoting misogyny, targeting Muslim women and abusing the ‘Father…
Vivekananda: Monk who highlighted Humanism of Hinduism
As we celebrate the birth anniversary (12th January) of the saffron robed monk who projected spirituality of Hinduism, the diversity and syncretic nature of India, it is very reassuring. His…
Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam: Uniting India
‘Unity in Diversity’ has been a major phrase which I picked up during my school days. Enjoying Ramlila for ten days before Vijayadhami ran parallel to seeing the Tazia processions,…
Spreading Hate- Inciting Violence: No more a Crime!
After Suraj Pal Amu made derogatory and hate speech, he was made the spokesman for BJP state unit. After the murder of Akhlaq in the beef-cow issue, one of the…
Imposing Vegetarianism as a Political Agenda
Recently (December 2021) town planning committee of Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation specifically mentioned that stalls selling non-vegetarian items will not be allowed along public roads and in the 100-meter radius of…
Is it Mathura’s Turn? Krishna Janmabhumi issue being revived
UP elections are forthcoming in few months. Many of those political analysts with their ears to the ground are of the opinion that the popularity of BJP, Modi-Yogi is on…
Choosing My Religion – Proposed Karnataka Freedom of Religion Bill
Presented during the webinar organised by the National Solidarity Forum on `Threat to Religious Freedom' on December 9, 2021. This was Dr. Ram Puniyani's introduction for the webinar. Other presentations…
Why Countercurrents Should Be Sustained: Ram Puniyani
Dear Friends We are passing through difficult times. As sectarian nationalism is increasing its grip on the state and society intolerance is rising. The mainstream media has been taken over…
Laughter was the best Medicine: Munawar Faruqui
Munawar Faruqui, a standup comic was to perform for a charity in Bangalore. The tickets were sold out. Then the organizers were informed that ‘show cannot go on’ and it…
Burning of Salman Khurshid’s House: Sectarian Intolerance in Action
Salman Khurshid, a former Union Minister, is one of the prominent leaders of Congress and also is the well known lawyer of Supreme Court. He recently came out with a…
Kangana Ranaut: How and When India Got Freedom?
As sectarian nationalism is becoming more assertive and dominant the narrative about our freedom struggle and how we got freedom are being twisted to suit the currently surging religious nationalism.…
Akhilesh Yadav on Jinnah: Communal Signaling in Contemporary Politics
As the intensity of communalism is on the rise the use of communal symbols, icons for present political goals are on the rise. Icons are also projected and highlighted to…
Tripura Violence: Hate and Communal Polarization
The story of contemporary Indian society is mired by the regular outburst of violence against its religious minorities. As the Prime Minster is hugging Pope, back home the anti Christian…
Christian Minorities and Indian Democracy!
As sectarian nationalism is becoming more assertive and strong, the religious minorities are being subjected to intimidation and violence on regular basis. As such there is an increase the frequency…
Is Ganga Jamuni Tehjeeb a Hoax?
Vishwa Hindu Parishad General Secretary Milind Parande recently (Sept 2021, TOI) stated that “The very idea of Ganga Jamuni Tehjeeb (term used for confluence of Hindu and Muslim cultures in…
On Gandhi Jayanti: Godse Zindabad Twitter Strom
This October 2nd (2021) the Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday; the twitter was flooded with tweets, ‘Nathuram Godse Amar Rahen’ (Long live Nathuram Godse), Nathuram Godse Zindabad (Hail Godse). It was the…
Oil Politics, Taliban and Islamophobia: Impact on India
Withdrawal of US army from Afghanistan has led to the Taliban coming to power. The scene created in Afghanistan has been very disturbing. The minorities trying to flee, the Muslims…
Are Hindutva and Hinduism the Same?
“Dismantling Global Hindutva”, the online global conference was recently held from 10 to 12th September 2021. It was addressed by nearly 15 activists and scholars who are working on the…
Are all Fundamentalisms Similar: Can Taliban be compared to RSS?
With Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan, the memories of horror stories of yesteryears have been rekindled. When in power they not only implemented their version of Sharia law but…
Combating Hate in a Plural Society: Scattered attacks on Muslims
India’s diversity has been amazing as different cultures, religions, languages and ethnicities had been living here, cheek by jowl, from last many centuries. Bhakti-Sufi Saints and then the freedom movement…
Why Remember Partition Horror?
India’s partition has been one of the major tragedies of the twentieth Century World. The loss of lives and the mass migrations have very few equivalent tragedies in the World.…
Independent India: Dreams Unfulfilled
Musings on 75th year of our Independence With India getting freedom from colonial rule, the first Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru summed up the aspirations and dreams of the leaders and…
Achieving Hindu Muslim Amity: Challenges Ahead
Mohan Bhagawat, the Sarsanghchalak of RSS, made the statement about Islam not being in danger in India, that discord does not work and there is a need for Hindu Muslim…
Religion, Sectarian Nationalism and Interfaith Marriages
One Hindu woman in Kanpur, UP lodged a complaint against her Muslim husband on the charge that he forcibly converted her. As it turned out she was forced to sign…
Democratic Processes and Kashmir Imbroglio
On 5th August 2019, through the Presidential ordinance the Article 370, giving autonomy to Kashmir was abolished. This article was the basis of Kashmir’s accession to India and it gave…
Voting for Restoration of Democracy: Electoral Choices
One will be amazed to compare the India of today with the same a decade ago. BJP’s getting majority in the Lok Sabha (2014) has changed the political, social and…
BJP-RSS Politics and Economic Plight of Dalits in India
India’s caste system is the major obstacle for betterment of the socio-economic condition of the downtrodden. The lowest in the rung of caste hierarchy, the victims of caste oppression are…
Covid 19 Management and Scientific Temper
With the outbreak of Covid 19, one of the earliest claims for its treatment came from Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev is the leading Baba who is also close to the…
Israel’s attack on Palestine: Imperialist Designs
From 6th May 2021 while Hamas, a radical Palestinian group has launched missiles on Israelis on the issue related to Al Aqsa mosque, the Israel has launched close to a…
Elections 2021: Mixed bag for Future of Indian Democracy
Four states and a Union territory saw the elections in 2021. Despite the dangerous Corona wave the elections were held in a way which suited the ruling dispensation at centre.…
Guru Tegh Bahadur, Sikhism and Mughals
This first May (2021), was also the day of 400th Anniversary of birth of the Ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadurji. Guruji has a very important place in the consolidation of Sikhism;…
Corona Pandemic and Targeting of Minorities
Currently (April 2021) India is passing through its worst period as Covid19 Phase II is at its peak, with high rate of infectivity and mortality. The shortage of beds, Oxygen,…
Faith, Politics and Public Health: Covid 19
The second and more serious wave of covid 19 is in the air. While the society is in the grip of shortage of beds, shortage of Oxygen cylinders and the…
Mamata’s Call for United Front: Can Democracy be saved in India?
As West Bengal Elections are on (April 2021), the heat of campaigning of the two major contenders, Trinmul and BJP has raised the political temperature in the state. BJP has…
Bangladesh Liberation: Modi’s Claims: A peep into the past
Bangledesh has completed 50 years of its liberation from the grip of West Pakistan, now Pakistan. It organized a grand program in which among others India’s Prime minster Narendra Modi…
Koran, Madrassas and Terrorism: Wasim Rizvi’s motivated Understanding of Islam
Wasim Rizvi, the ex Chairman of Shia Waqf Board has filed a PIL in Supreme Court. It states that 26 verses of Islam should be deleted as they promote terrorism.…
Freedom Of Religion and Christian Minorities in India
In the recently released report, Freedom House downgraded India from free to partly free due to the atmosphere of intolerance, treatment of journalists, protestors and religious minorities. The events of…
Is Secularism a threat to Traditions of India?
India got independence from British colonial rule on 15th August 1947 after a long struggle which was inclusive and had plural dimensions. Foundation of Indian Constitution is Liberty, Equality, Fraternity…
RSS and Freedom Movement: Glossing Over the Non Participation
RSS the parent organization of ruling BJP is quiet often being discussed in the public domain. While it has grown tremendously during last few years, there are attempts by many…
Akhand Bharat or Union of South Asian States
India’s partition was one of the major tragedies of South Asian region. The causes for this are to be seen in the triangle formed by ‘British Policy of Divide and…
Golwalkar and the Present Ruling Dispensation
During the struggle for India’s independence while the majority of Hindus, Muslims and people of all religions followed the path of Mahatma Gandhi, secular democratic nationalism, there were few whose…
Hamid Ansari’s Woes: Plight of Pluralism in India
India began as a plural democracy; respect for diversity was the core value. The provisions of safeguards for minorities were in built. These safeguards were formulated by the Constituent Assembly’s…
Is it politically relevant today to ask whether Nehru visited Bhagat Singh in Jail?
In a political rally Narendra Modi made statements which are not true, and which are made to raise the emotive pitch against his opponents. In a blatant lie, in a…
Netaji Bose, Nehru and anti Colonial Struggle
Indian anti colonial struggle has been the major phenomenon which built modern India into a secular democracy. Many of the political streams were part of this movement which struggled in…
History Writing to the Rescue against Sectarian Nationalism – A Tribute to Prof D.N. Jha
India currently is in the grip of ‘constructed Hate’. This in turn has led to violence against vulnerable sections of society, particularly religious minorities and dalits. As such one understands…
Hindu Nationalism: From Genesis to Present Ruling Dispensation
As per Indian Constitution India is a secular democratic Country. Lately Hindu nationalism has started impacting the nature of state and citizenship in a very strong way. As Indian Nationalism…
Rabindranath Tagore, Humanism and Nationalism
As Bengal elections are looming on the electoral horizons, BJP has intensified its attempts to appropriate the tall icons from Bengal. As for as ideology is concerned the only leader…
Netaji Bose: Attempted Appropriation by Hindu Nationalism
Netaji Subhashchandra Bose’s birth anniversary was marked by various events this year (January 23). His portrait was unveiled by the President in Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was declared that his anniversary…
Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan: Muslims for Composite Indian Nationalism
As per the recent communiqué from Chief Minister of Haryana M.L. Khattar’s, the Government of Haryana has decided to change the name of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Hospital in Faridabad…
Love Jihad, Conversions and Laws curbing Freedoms
Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020, passed by UP on 27th November 2020, has set the ball rolling at two levels. On one hand many other…
Patriotism, Religion and RSS Ideology
Word ‘anti-National’ has been more in vogue form last few years. Simply put all those who are criticizing the RSS and its progeny are labeled as anti-National. As fountainhead of…
From Babri Mosque to Ram Temple: Historical perspective
This 5th August (2020) the Prime Minister of India did the ground breaking ceremony (Bhumi Pujan) for Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The Prime Minster compared the 15th August; when India…
Choosing My Religion: ‘Freedom of Religion Laws’ to Curb Liberty
Indian Constitution gives us the right to practice, preach and propagate our religion. To not to follow any religion is also a matter of right for the individual. Now in…
Political Ideology of BJP: Pragya Singh Thakur
Pragya Singh Thakur is no ordinary member of BJP, the ruling dispensation in the country. She is a MP from Bhopal and was also made the member of defense committee…
KBC’s in Soup for its Question on Manu Smriti Burning
‘Kaun Banega Karodpati’ (KBC) is probably one of the most successful mega programs on TV channels, with bumper prizes in toe. In its recent episode (Karmayog, November 2020) the host…
Campaign to Curb Inter-faith marriages: Ruse to Restrict Women’s Freedom
Allahabad High Court in its recent judgment opposed the conversion to get married to the person of another faith. The logic is that in the Special Marriages act, interfaith marriages…
Charlie Hebdo Cartoons and Blasphemy Laws in Contemporary Times
The murder of French school teacher Samuel Paty by an 18 year old Muslim boy of Russian origin has opened the Pandora’s Box all over. Few days’ later three people…
Diversity in Nation Building: Contributes or Hinders?
There is news that in UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled (17/10/2020) 50 Pence 'Diversity coin’ to celebrate Britain’s diverse history and recognise the profound contribution minority communities have made…
India: Communalists, Indian Constitution and Muslim Minorities
A Year ago, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had stated (October 10, 2019) that Indian Muslims are happiest in the World due to Hindus. Now he goes on to say that…
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